The Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparicidos y en Honduras – COFADEH), is one of the leading human rights organizations in the country. It was originally established to document the disappearance of people in the early 1980’s, at which time there were approximately 200 such people being held in custody.
In recent years COFADEH has expanded its mandate, and is very active in the field of human rights violations. While members have been repeatedly threatened in the past, the number of threats has risen significantly since 2011. In response to this increase, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on Honduras to protect all human rights defenders who are operating in the country.
Since 2011, severable notable events have occurred against COFADEH members. Many have been sent messages stating they are being watched or have notices unidentified men outside their homes. One coordinator received a text message that said simply „RIP“. In 2012, Dina Meza, director of COFADEH’s website, received a series of threats of sexual violence. She has also reported being followed and photographed by unknown men while with her family. In April 2012, founding member Nohemí Pérez was physically and verbally threatened while arriving at the COFADEH office.
Celé znění on-line petice, kterou posíláme adresátům.
Protection for the committee members and relatives of the detained and disappeared in Honduras
Dear President:
Allow me to turn to you on behalf of Amnesty International Czech Republic to express my deep concern over the case of the members of the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH), whose employees have been repeatedly threatened, followed and attacked without apparent reason.
Amnesty International strongly believes that those attacks are carried out due to the activities of the Committee members who document cases of human rights violations in Honduras.
In the light of the above described, I respectfully urge you, Mr President, to ensure that:
• The importance and legitimacy of the work of the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras and other human rights organizations in the country be publicly acknowledged, and
• The attacks against them be denounced.
In the spirit of the respect of the basic values of human dignity, freedom, equality, and solidarity, I call on you, Mr. President, to respect human rights not only in cases of the members of COFADEH mentioned in this letter, but also all the other human rights activists in Honduras.
Thank you for your attention regarding this important issue.
Yours sincerely
Vážený pane prezidente,
dovolte mi, abych se na Vás obrátil/a jménem Amnesty International Česká republika a upozornil/a Vás na situaci členů Výboru zadržených a zmizelých v Hondurasu (COFADEH). Jeho zaměstnancům bylo opakovaně vyhrožováno, jsou sledováni a bezdůvodně napadáni.
Amnesty International je přesvědčena, že k útokům dochází kvůli aktivitám členů výboru, který dokumentuje případy porušování lidských práv v Hondurasu.
S ohledem na výše uvedené skutečnosti Vás žádám o:
Veřejné uznání důležitosti a legitimity práce Výboru zadržených a zmizelých v Hondurasu a dalších lidskoprávních organizací v zemi a odsouzení útoků, které jsou proti nim vedeny.
S ohledem na hodnoty lidské důstojnosti, svobody, rovnosti a solidarity Vás, pane předsedo, vyzývám k respektování lidských práv nejen v případě zmíněných členů COFADEH, ale vůči všem lidskoprávním organizacím a aktivistům v Hondurasu.
Děkujeme Vám za pozornost, kterou této záležitosti věnujete.
